• 5 Dinner (D)
• 14 Breakfast (B)
• 2 Lunch (L)

• Business class coach with extended leg room
• Top-rated dining, from farm-to-table to local restaurants
• 4 & 5-star stays

• Madrid: Visit the Prado Museum with an art historian who places key works within their historical setting. With your historian’s expert guidance, you’ll examine paintings by Velázquez, Goya, Titian and Rubens, noting their connection to royal patronage and the broader European tradition. Learn how the museum, founded in 1819, became a principal repository for Spain’s royal collections and major works from across the continent.

• Vila Nova de Gaia: Visit the wine cellars of Vila Nova de Gaia, the center of port ageing and storage since the 18th century. You’ll learn how barrel conditions, blending practices and long-standing shipper traditions define styles such as Ruby, Tawny and Vintage. Examine the link between Douro Valley production and the export houses established along this southern bank of the Douro River.
• Lisbon: In Belém, try pastéis de Belém: crisp layers of pastry encasing custard complete with a dusting of cinnamon. See how the pastries follow a closely guarded recipe, and are still prepared in the same bakery that has produced them since 1837. 
• Torremolinos: Visit a rural mill outside Torremolinos to taste olive oils pressed from olives grown on trees that have stood in this region for generations. Try a few varieties with freshly baked bread and hear how harvest timing, soil and tree age influence the flavor. 
• Alfarnatejo: Share a home-cooked lunch with a local family in Alfarnatejo. Expect simple Andalusian dishes, seasonal ingredients and an easy conversation around the table. It’s a chance to see how meals are prepared and shared in this part of rural Spain, and to hear stories about the town from the people who live there. 
• Valencia: Sit down to a traditional paella dinner in Valencia, the city where this much-loved dish has its roots. As you dine, you’ll taste the saffron, rice and stock that define its depth of flavor, alongside the ingredients that give each paella its character, from rabbit and chicken to seafood.
• Barcelona: In Sant Sadurní d’Anoia, you’ll visit a local bodega set among the vineyards that have supplied cava houses since the 19th century. A light lunch is paired with a tasting of cavas made using the traditional method, showing how bottle fermentation and ageing on the lees influence the wine’s structure and character. 
• Barcelona: Your final evening brings the group together around the table in Barcelona. It’s a chance to share dinner in the Catalan capital, reminisce over the days you’ve traveled and mark the end of your journey across Spain and Portugal with one last meal together. 

Explore Salamanca’s golden center, stepping into the life of Plaza Mayor and the surrounding lanes with a Local Specialist. Trace student traditions near the University of Salamanca, founded in the 13th century and famed for scholarly rites and facades studded with sculpted detail.

Admire warm Villamayor sandstone and plateresque facades that shimmer at different times of day. Stories of humanist learning and civic pageantry bring this early university city into focus.

Cross the Douro to Vila Nova de Gaia and descend into cool lodges where port has aged since the 18th century. Learn how grape selection, barrel conditions and blending shape ruby and tawny styles, then sample regional wines that carry the Douro’s schist and sun in every sip.

Guides connect river transport, English trading houses and valley quintas, explaining vintage declarations and long bottle ageing. Aromas of dried fruit, spice and toasted wood complete the experience.

Get your bearings in Porto’s historic quarters with your Travel Director, moving through the Ribeira district and up to everyday landmarks that shape the skyline. Step inside São Bento station to view azulejo panels that narrate Portugal’s past in 20,000 blue-and-white tiles.

Trace sloping streets toward the Clérigos Tower, a long-standing point of orientation in the old city. Maritime trade, merchants’ houses and granite churches set the tone for Portugal’s “second city.”

Visit the Sanctuary of Fátima, center of a 20th-century pilgrimage tradition linked to the reported apparitions of 1917. Walk the esplanade, pause at the Chapel of the Apparitions, and view the Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary with its serene colonnades.

Hear how devotion shaped the complex’s growth, from intimate chapels to vast gathering spaces designed for processions and prayer. The atmosphere invites quiet reflection amid white stone and candlelight.

Walk within Óbidos’ medieval walls, following lanes lined with whitewashed houses, flowered doorways and tiny chapels. Your Local Specialist explains how this hill town evolved from Roman roots to a royal wedding gift in the 13th century.

Pause to sample ginja, the cherry liqueur served in small cups, and hear how family recipes and seasonal fruit give each batch its character. Cobbled streets and castle ramparts set a timeless scene.

Explore Baixa Pombalina with a Local Specialist, where broad squares and rational avenues rose after the 1755 earthquake. Continue along the Tagus to Belém to view the Belém Tower and the Monument to the Discoveries, landmarks tied to Portugal’s maritime age. A stop to taste pastéis de Belém sweetens the route.

Stories of explorers, reconstruction and monastic kitchens frame Lisbon’s identity. The riverfront breeze, tiled facades and tramlines bring the city’s everyday rhythm into focus.

Visit Lisbon’s National Coach Museum to examine ceremonial royal carriages from the 16th to 19th centuries. Gilded woodwork, velvet upholstery and allegorical panels reveal changing tastes and courtly protocol across Europe.

Guides decode baroque ornament and engineering details—suspensions, harnesses and wheel design—that allowed monarchs to move with maximum spectacle. This is a rare window into diplomacy, craftsmanship and state display.

Join your Local Specialist in Seville to view the Giralda bell tower, admire the exterior of Seville Cathedral and stroll the lanes of Santa Cruz, the former Jewish quarter. Parks and pavilions of María Luisa shape the city’s elegant green heart.

Pause at the tiled curves of the Plaza de España, a showpiece of the 1929 Ibero-American Exposition. Mudéjar, Renaissance and Revival styles intermingle, reflecting centuries of Andalusian craft and civic ambition.

Engage with flamenco at its source during a visit to the Cristina Heeren Foundation. Try compás hand-claps, learn a few basic steps and feel how guitar, song and footwork intersect in this Andalusian art.

Watch students perform and hear how the school preserves tradition while opening pathways for new talent. Your visit supports Quality Education, advancing training in cante, baile and toque for the next generation.

Ascend the Rock of Gibraltar with a Local Specialist and enter the otherworldly chambers of St. Michael’s Cave, sculpted by water and mineral over millennia. Look for the playful Barbary macaques, Europe’s only wild monkeys, living under protected status.

From scenic viewpoints, panoramic views span the Strait to North Africa. Military, maritime and Mediterranean influences converge in stories of fortifications and trade routes.

Venture into the hills to visit a rural olive mill and walk among gnarled trees adapted to dry, stony soils. Learn how harvest timing and varietals shape character, then taste extra-virgin oils with warm bread, noting pepper, almond and green tomato notes.

Settle in for a home-cooked lunch with a local family—simple seasonal dishes that reflect the Andalusian countryside. Conversation and recipes reveal daily rhythms in this quiet corner of Spain.

Step into the Alhambra with a Local Specialist and trace the artistry of the Nasrid courts through intricate stucco and tilework, cedar ceilings and still reflecting pools. Courtyards open to perfumed gardens that soften stone with water and shade.

Hear how the Nasrid dynasty shaped this hilltop palatine city and how later Spanish rulers transformed Granada below. Patterns, verses and light reveal a refined world of craft and ceremony.

See the futuristic City of Arts and Sciences, a cultural complex set along the re-routed Turia riverbed. Its gleaming curves and pools frame a city that blends innovation with centuries of trade.

Continue past ancient city gates into the Old City, where markets, towers and shady plazas reflect Valencia’s maritime ties and agricultural wealth. Your Travel Director helps decode the city’s layout and easy walking routes.

Sit down in Valencia to a steaming pan of Paella Valenciana, the region’s emblematic dish anchored by saffron-scented rice. Taste how stock, sofrito and fire meet ingredients like rabbit, chicken or seafood to create depth and texture.

Hosts explain origins in huerta fields and Albufera shores, where farm and lagoon shaped recipes over generations. The aromas of smoked paprika and lemon define this farm-to-sea tradition.

Pause along the Mediterranean to photograph Peñíscola Castle, a 14th-century fortress set on a dramatic limestone headland. Its walls fall to the sea on three sides, separating old-town lanes from the beaches below.

From the lookout, frames of stone, surf and whitewashed roofs capture the changing hues of the Mediterranean coast. It’s a brief, striking window onto Templar legacy and coastal life.

Visit a family bodega in cava country to learn the traditional method—secondary fermentation in bottle, hand riddling and lees ageing that build structure and finesse. Enjoy a light lunch paired with flights that reveal styles from youthful brut to longer-aged reserva.

Guides explain native grapes—Macabeo, Xarel·lo and Parellada—and how soils and cellar time shape flavor. Crisp acidity, orchard fruit and brioche notes define Catalonia’s signature sparkling wine.

Enter the Palau de la Música Catalana before doors open and look up to its stained-glass skylight flooding mosaic and sculpture with color. Settle into the auditorium as an organ performance brings the hall’s remarkable acoustics to life.

Designed during Barcelona’s Modernisme movement, the Palau celebrates craftsmanship—tile, glass and carved stone—woven into a civic temple for music and community pride.

Trace Passeig de Gràcia past Modernista facades and into the geometric Eixample on a guided city drive. Arrive at the Sagrada Família and stand close to the stonework to see contrasts between Gaudí’s early carvings and ongoing construction.

Your Local Specialist explains Gaudí’s vision and symbolism woven into nativity scenes, portals and towers. On some departures, the interior visit may be replaced by a guided visit to the Hospital de Sant Pau, a UNESCO-listed Modernisme complex.

Gather for a welcome dinner in Madrid and meet your Travel Director and small group over regional dishes in a local restaurant. Conversation sets the tone for days ahead as you settle into the rhythm of Iberian evenings.

Expect seasonal flavors and the ambiance of Old Madrid—tile, wood and lively tables. It’s an easy introduction to Spanish dining customs and the city’s hospitable mood.

Close your journey with a final dinner in Barcelona, toasting the days spent across Iberia. Dishes draw on Catalan cuisine, where market produce, seafood and olive oil come together with confident simplicity.

Raise a glass, share stories and mark the friendships formed along the way. The city’s late-evening energy and warm service provide a fitting endnote to your travels.

Dine at a family-run restaurant renowned for grilled and stewed catch from Portugal’s coast. Expect Atlantic-caught fish, briny clams and crisp vinho verde poured with pride. This experience connects Lisbon’s kitchens to the boats and markets that supply them.

This is an Optional Experience offered at additional cost and bookable on tour. Your Travel Director will share menu highlights and help confirm availability during your stay in Lisbon.

Explore Madrid’s historic core with a Local Specialist, tracing the compact grid and lively squares that defined Habsburg Madrid. Stroll arcaded Plaza Mayor, peek down narrow lanes once lined with guilds and markets, and learn how the city grew from a fortified outpost into a European capital.

Hear stories behind civic facades and convent courtyards as you join a guided walking tour of the Old Quarter. Balconied townhouses, wrought-iron signs and traditional taverns reveal layers of urban life shaped by royal ceremony and neighborhood ritual.

Visit the Prado Museum with an art historian and encounter masterpieces that span royal courts and revolutions. Gain clear context as you examine works by Velázquez, Goya, Titian and Rubens, and see how patronage shaped subjects from court portraiture to grand mythologies.

Founded in 1819, the Prado’s galleries chart the evolution of European painting through light, perspective and power. Your specialist reveals technique and symbolism, from the painterly dialogue of Las Meninas to the charged brushwork that defined Spain’s modern era.

Walk Segovia’s historic center with a Local Specialist and stand beneath the Roman aqueduct, its towering granite arches carrying mountain water to the city for nearly two millennia. Look up to the cliff-top Alcázar of Segovia, whose turrets long guarded routes onto the Castilian plain.

Hear how Roman engineering, medieval trade and royal influence converged to shape streets and squares. Stone churches, carved doorways and quiet courtyards reveal a city layered by empire, guild and crown.

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